EXCERPTS FROM MINISTER VAYALAR RAVI’S PBD SPEECH

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention will strengthen Diaspora’s engagement with India’s growth story. The Diaspora is keen to be partners in our growing economy. The Government is aware of these sentiments. Hence, it has been the constant endeavour of the government to sort-out various Diaspora related issues and introduce new schemes to ensure their active participation in our growth story. This was stated by Mr. Vayalar Ravi, Minster for Overseas Indian Affairs while addressing inaugural session of PBD on January 8, 2014. He said that several initiatives including the Overseas Citizen of India Scheme, voting rights for NRIs and the scholarship program for Diaspora youth have been introduced. Many more schemes such as the e-migrate project are on the anvil, the Minister added.

The Youth PBD was celebrated on January 7, 2014 for the first time. The theme of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was “Engaging the Diaspora-Connecting across Generations and this itself emphasizes on the youth connectivity. The youth population in India is one of the largest in the world, and it is contributing immensely to the growth of our great country. The younger generation of the Diaspora also constitutes a large group and is beginning to play important roles in their countries. It is essential that these new generations of Indians and pravasis bond together in the same way their parents and forefathers did. Many sessions were held yesterday focussed on youth. The interactions have certainly helped young people from India and the diaspora to have thoughtful insights into the economic, cultural and development horizons of their mother country. Hence, this edition of PBD will finds a unique place in the history of PBDs in India, according to Mr Ravi.

The minister did not fail to mention that India is immensely proud of the achievements of Indian diaspora which has made a great contribution in shaping the image of India to the world at large. Addressing the concluding session of PBD 2014 and the conferment ceremony of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards, the Minister said that the PBD is also a celebration of the home-coming of the global Indians. He exhorted the overseas Indian communities to be engaged in India’s great adventure of building and inclusive India free from hunger and exploitation. He asked the overseas Indians to reach out in new India not just financially but intellectually, socially and culturally.